LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS 

New Laws

Aug 27: Saskatchewan published a Data Centre Framework setting out the criteria it will use to assess proposed artificial intelligence (AI) data centre projects: i. Canadian ownership; ii. support for Canadian data and AI sovereignty; iii. creation of Saskatchewan jobs and partnerships; iv. industry experience; and v. self-supplied power generation.

Action Point: Find out about the 11 ways you can use Artificial Intelligence to improve workplace safety and OHS compliance.

Fire Safety

Aug 18: The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) and Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC) signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) to ensure First Nations’ participation in wildfire planning and strategy in Saskatchewan. The MOU creates a more structured approach to collaboration, including regular engagement between the SPSA, PAGC and MLTC leadership before and after each wildfire season.

Action Point: Find out how to implement a Wildfire Smoke Protection Game Plan to guard your workers against smoke exposure, both indoors and outdoors.

Transportation Safety

Aug 27: Saskatchewan advised the public to be on alert for scam text messages that claim recipients have an outstanding traffic citation and directing them to a webpage to submit payment online. The texts falsely identify themselves as coming from the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan, and direct individuals to a webpage to submit payment online. Don’t fall for this fraud. The Government neither collects fine payments through text messages nor sends out alerts regarding overdue fines by text, the advisory emphasizes.

Drugs & Alcohol

Sep 8: Saskatchewan is firing back at Trump tariffs by imposing its own 50% levy on U.S. alcohol products imported into the province, effective today. Not surprisingly, Saskatchewan’s brewers and distillers have expressed strong support for the measure.

Action Point: Find out about how tariffs affect your OHS program.

CASES

Material Handling: City Fined $130,000 for Cement Block Handling Mishap

A municipal worker suffered serious injury after being struck by cement blocks slid out of a dump box in a raised position. The municipality pled guilty to one OHS violation, failing to provide and maintain safe plant, systems of work, and working environments, and was fined $130,000. That’s the highest OHS fine reported in Saskatchewan in 2026 [City of Prince Albert, Govt. News Release, August 26, 2026].

Action Point: Don’t let this happen on your watch! Find out how to implement a legally sound and effective Material Stacking Safety & Compliance Game Plan at your workplace.

Drugs & Alcohol: No Grounds for Post-Incident Testing of Pipeline Workers, Affirms High Court

SaskEnergy ordered nine safety-sensitive union workers who were involved in two unrelated pipeline installation incidents to undergo drug and alcohol testing. The union claimed the company didn’t have just cause to perform post-incident testing. The Saskatchewan arbitrator agreed and SaskEnergy appealed to the province’s top court. The Court of Appeal sided with the union, finding that the arbitrator committed no obvious error in concluding that the incidents didn’t qualify as a “significant work-related incident” or “high potential incident” triggering the SaskEnergy’s right to test under the company’s post-incident testing policy [SaskEnergy Incorporated v Unifor Local 649, 2026 SKCA 94 (CanLII), August 26, 2026].

Action Point: Workplace drug testing cases are often determined based not on what a testing policy says but how it’s implemented. This is especially true of post-incident testing where the issue is whether the injury or incident is enough to justify testing under the policy. Find out how to implement a Drugs and Alcohol Testing Policy at your own workplace.